


Pounding to the Beat of Our Love

by elmoon



Series: Sheith AU Week 2019 [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Crying, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Knight Keith (Voltron), M/M, Making Out, Period-Typical Homophobia, Prince Shiro (Voltron), They love each other so much, kind of, sheith au week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-26 09:57:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19003456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elmoon/pseuds/elmoon
Summary: Kissing Shiro feels like coming home. After nearly two decades of not having a place to call his own, being with Shiro feels like where he’s supposed to be.—Shiro is a prince, Keith is a knight. The world isn't ready for their love, so they find a place of their own as a ball full of suitors roars in the background.





	Pounding to the Beat of Our Love

**Author's Note:**

> i cranked this out last night and really like how it turned out. this is day 1 of sheith au week 2019! the theme is symbolism & splendor

“Shiro, we can’t right now! You’re the main event here, everyone will notice if you disappear,” Keith says while twisting his head to stare back at the ballroom he’s being dragged away from. His chain metal armor clinks as he walks, filling the quiet hallway with noise. The rest of the palace is silent, everyone preoccupied with the extravagant ball being held in the main ballroom.

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Takashi?”

“As many times as it takes for you to finally realize that I won’t,” Keith rolls his eyes and twines his fingers with the prince’s, accepting that he won’t be allowed to head back to his post for the foreseeable future. “It’s improper and if anyone overhead, we would be at the mercy of your parents until they know why.”

Shiro turns to him and grins, his white teeth brightening his smile to where Keith almost has to look away. But how can he, when that beautiful smile is directed at him? That charming lift of the corners of his mouth, one side raised slightly higher than the other only heightening the appeal of it. It tells Keith that Prince Takashi Shirogane is human, just like the rest of the population. He has his flaws, like the scar on his nose and the subtle dryness of his lips; the calluses on his fingers and loudness of his laugh. These things have only made Keith fall more in love with him. As dangerous as it is, Keith can’t stop himself from feeling the fond clench of his heart when Shiro belly-laughs or snorts.

“Then we’ll just have to deal with the consequences when they come,” Shiro says, stopping and pulling Keith left into a hallway that only the servants know about, “we have to enjoy our time together while it lasts, baby.” Keith’s stomach flips and he’s unable to hide the small smile that forces its way onto his face. “There’s that pretty smile that I adore. Come here, kitten, let me kiss those gorgeous lips.” Shiro pulls Keith in by the belt that houses his sword, resting his hands on his small waist afterward.

“Shiro, you know how you saying things like that makes me feel,” the knight blushes and mounts his hands on the broad shoulders of the man in front of him.

“Yes I do, and that’s exactly why I said it,” Shiro speaks onto his lips, closing the short distance between them immediately after. Their mouths meet and like everyone says, sparks fly between them. Kissing Shiro feels like coming home. After nearly two decades of not having a place to call his own, being with Shiro feels like where he’s supposed to be.

When he was caught attempting to steal a bouquet of flowers from the marketplace, Shiro was there to save him from being put in the castle’s dungeons. He’d explained that the flowers were for his father’s grave and it was the anniversary of his death, and immediately he was out of the tight pair of cuffs and in the arms of Prince Takashi Shirogane.

_“Why?”_

_“Because I can see that you need someone to care about you. I’d like that person to be me, if that’s alright.”_

Keith’s blackened and stress-withered heart was a lost cause after that single conversation. From the moment he’d met Shiro, his heart has regained it’s beautifully bright red hue in small splotches that spread and grow every time the prince makes him laugh with his stupid jokes. When Shiro had begged his father to let Keith join in on the knight’s training, he knew that the prince would have his heart for as long as he wanted it.

_Learning that Shiro felt the same way took the entirety of Keith’s brain capacity to understand and comprehend. The prince had taken him horseback riding to a secluded outcropping in the forest and they were watching the stars together when Shiro sprung it on him._

_“I’m in love with you,” he had said not taking his eyes off of the sky above them._

_Keith, in the middle of chewing on an apple, had choked._

_“Keith?” Shiro sat up quickly and started slapping his back worriedly. “Are you alright?”_

_The newly knighted man smacked Shiro’s hand away and spit out the leftover pieces of apple in his mouth. “What the hell, Shiro?”_

_“Takashi,” the prince corrected quickly, “and what do you mean?” Head tilted like a dog, he furrowed his eyebrows. Keith felt his heart flutter in his ribcage at how cute such a burly man could be._

_“What do I mean? Seriously, Shiro?” He knew that the prince wasn’t always the brightest star in the sky, but this tipped the scale. “You can’t just say that you’re in love with me and then ask me why I’m freaking out!”_

_“Oh,” Shiro had said lamely._

_“Oh? Shiro, what the hell! What do you mean, you’re in love with me?”_

Keith smiles into their kiss, fondly thinking of the first one they ever shared.

It had been shortly after Shiro’s confession and before Keith’s own. After he shook himself out of his confusion, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Get your ass over here, dummy,” he said before pulling Shiro in to slot their lips together.

The prince pulls away from their kiss slowly, leaning back in to quickly peck Keith’s mouth before pulling away again. “What are you smiling about, starshine?” He lifts a hand up and tucks a piece of hair behind his knight’s ear.

“Just thinking about how much I love you,” Keith says softly, “and how lucky I am to get to have you like this.” He hates the way tears well up in his eyes, hates how it makes him feel weak and vulnerable.

“Baby, why are you crying?” Shiro asks worriedly, brushing away a tear that falls from his eye.

Keith sniffles, “Because even though I love you so much, and you love me, you still have to marry some girl that you don’t even know.” He holds on tight to Shiro’s shoulders, trying to hide the shaking of his hands. “Why can’t people accept us, Takashi? Why?”

“Oh, Keith.” The prince wraps his arms around his lover’s waist and buries his head in his thick black hair. “I’m so sorry that this is the way things have to be. I’m sorry that we have to sneak around and that the only time I can hold your hand is when we’re hidden away in some dark corner. I’m sorry that we have to disguise ourselves on dates and pretend that we’re only friends.” He rubs his hands up and down Keith’s back as a few tears of his own slip. He wishes that he could do something to take away his love’s pain, that they could be accepted by the cruel society that they live in. “I wish I could be someone that you don’t have to be with in secret. I wish I could love you the way that you deserve to be loved.”

Keith abruptly pulls himself away. He’s angry. “Don’t you dare blame yourself for this. It isn’t either of our faults that society can’t pull its head out of its ass enough to learn that our love is just as normal as theirs is. Please don’t feel guilty over what you can’t control.” He holds his prince’s face in his hands, not letting him look away. “I will love you no matter what. Whatever we have to do to be together, I’ll be there beside you. I might hate that you have to marry some woman but at least I know that she’ll never have your heart like I do. She won’t get to know your soul the way that I do.” In between his words he kisses Shiro’s face, making sure that his words are backed by the love in his actions.

There isn’t a moment where Keith won’t love Shiro nor a moment where Shiro won’t be hopelessly devoted to Keith. “I love you so much, Keith. You have my heart now and forever.” He takes one of Keith’s rough and calloused hands and brings it to his chest. “It belongs to you, starshine. You stole it the moment I saw you, and I never want it back.” His heart thumps under Keith’s hand, pounds to the beat of their love.

Like magnets, their lips find each other once again. They pour every ounce of their passion into the kiss, their hands pawing at each other like they can’t get enough. Tears stain their cheeks and the kiss tastes like salt, though neither seems to mind. In this darkened hallway, they belong only to each other. The rest of the world can wait.

“Prince Shiro!”

Or maybe it can’t.

They pull away from each other slowly, fingers lingering as long as they dare. They sigh, knowing their pocket of time has run out. With one final peck of their lips, they put distance between them.

“Prince Shiro! Thank goodness I found you,” a servant that neither knows the name of rounds the corner of their hideaway, “the King and Queen are looking for you! It’s time for the first dance of the night, your Highness.”

With an almost inaudible sigh, Shiro moves towards the servant, pausing to look back at his lover. “I’ll see you later, Ser Keith.”

“Have fun, your Highness,” Keith replies with a grin. Shiro returns it without hesitation, turning back to follow the servant towards the ballroom. Keith watches his back as he goes, the sappy grin unable to leave his face. Whoever dances with Shiro within the next few hours, Keith knows that he’ll be the last dance of the night after the ball is over.

**Author's Note:**

> come scream sheith with me on twitter @ cuddlesheith  
> see sheith au week prompts @ sheithauweek on twitter!


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